I STRODE INTO THE fucker’s room ready for a fight.
I didn’t get one.
His face swollen all to hell, his speech slurred like he was fucking hurting, he looked at me with utter fucking hopelessness. “Don’t let her in here.”
“Why?” I demanded.
“I fucked up.”
I didn’t have an ounce of fucking sympathy for him. “You more than fucked up.”
He turned his head. “She should’ve let me die,” he muttered.
“So you could burden her even more? Crush her fucking heart?”
“You love her.”
He said it so quietly, I wasn’t sure at first what I’d heard. “What?”
“I know you love her.”
“I’m marrying her. She’s already wearing my ring.” And hopefully carrying my baby.
Marcus didn’t react. I didn’t know if he was pumped on pain meds or still fucking high on whatever he’d taken, and I didn’t care. He was fucking selfish where she was concerned.
“This is what’s going to happen.” I waited, but he didn’t respond. “Nod if you fucking understand me.”
“I fucking hear you.”
Good. “I’m going to give you a choice. You owe Killian Crowd. You borrowed money from him to bet on the fight you threw. You didn’t fucking pay him back. That fight was sanctioned.” God knew how he fucking pulled that off, but he did, which only made this more of a fucking mess. “He says you blew the money on hookers and blow. Seeing you now, I don’t fucking doubt it. Crowd’s got a price on your head. You’ve got forty-eight hours to pay up before he comes after you. So you either go to the cops and tell him what you and Crowd did, hope you can cut a deal, or…” I paused to make sure he was fucking listening. “Or I pay your fucking debt and you get whatever surgery you need here. Then you check into a facility of my choosing.”
“You gonna pay for that too?” he asked bitterly.
“Yes.” But not for his sake. “For Elyssia’s sake, I hope you make the right decision.”
He finally looked at me, but this time, it wasn’t with the total disdain he’d given me for years. This time, he looked fucking broken. “And what’s that? Another set of shrinks and another round of drugs that fuck with my head?”
“If that’s what it takes.” I used Talon’s words on him. “There’s a hundred different combinations of drugs and therapy to try. You keep trying them until you find the right recipe.”
Guilt-ridden rage contorted his already fucked-up face. “I hit her. I hit my own damn sister. I deserve to die.”
“You would’ve if I’d been there.” I wasn’t sugarcoating shit for him. He needed to see he was on bottom, and he needed to make a decision. “But now you’ve got a fucking choice and a second chance. Only you can make the decision.”
He looked away again. “You gonna take care of her?”
Fuck. Finally. I exhaled. “Yes.” He wasn’t gonna fight. “Always.”
“She loves you, you know. She always has.”
“I know.” I didn’t want to discuss her with him. “She loves you too.”
“She shouldn’t.”
“Then give her a reason to.”
He looked back at me, and for the first time in years, I saw the Marcus who’d helped a foster kid being bullied. “What if rehab or wherever the fuck I wind up doing doesn’t work?”
“It will.” If I could pull my ass out of the shit I came from, he could too. “But only if you fight for it.”
“That’s all I’ve been doing.” His eyes welled. “I’m fucking tired of fighting.”
“She needs you.” I didn’t have anything else. “If she’s not enough of a reason, I don’t know what is. If Helen was here, she’d tell you the same damn thing.”
He leaned back and looked up at the ceiling. “I wanted to die.”
I bit my fucking tongue and waited.
“When I saw what I did to her, I wanted to end it. For real this time.”
My hands fisted.
“I didn’t remember it. I didn’t remember doing that to her.” Tears dripped down his face. “But she was limping and breathing funny, and I knew. Then I heard you’d taken her to the hospital.” He shook his head. “I can’t live like this anymore.”
“No, you can’t,” I ground out.
He looked at me with newfound determination. “I’ll do rehab on one condition.”
“What?”
“If I don’t come out better, if I don’t come out fixed, you fucking end this.”
Jesus fuck. “I’m not—”
“I’m not asking you to kill me. Commit me, put me in jail, just do whatever the fuck you have to. Make sure I don’t hurt her or anyone else again. Deal?”
I could live with that. “Deal, but only if we do this legally. I’ll get my lawyer to draw up a contract, giving me power of attorney in the event I need to commit you. I want this done right. I don’t want Elyssia to have to go through any more shit.”
He drew in a deep breath and pain lanced across his face. “Fine. Make it happen.”
I nodded. “All right.”
He exhaled. “I guess having a rich fuck as a friend comes in handy.”
“We’re friends now?”
His good eye looked at me, clear and unwavering. “Yeah.”
“Then fucking act like it. No more shit about me and Elyssia. Be happy for her.”
Marcus nodded. “Fine, but if you break her heart or pull her into the media circus that’s your life now, I’ll fucking kill you.”
“You really think you’re in a position to threaten me?” He owed Crowd a shitload of money.
A smile with zero humor tipped one side of his mouth. “You haven’t paid Crowd yet. I don’t have to be nice yet.”
“Start fucking practicing.” I didn’t know if I wanted to kill him or if I just felt sorry for him. “She wants to see you. Tell her you’re going to rehab after you have surgery to fix your face. Tell her you’re happy for her. Be fucking civil. Got it?”
“The bullied becomes the bully.”
I eyed him. “I learned from the best.” I turned and opened the door. “Elyssia.”
She looked up from where she was pacing the hall with worry all over her face.
I smiled. “Come see your brother.” I held the door open.
She rushed in, tears in her eyes. “Marcus.” She wrapped her arms around her brother, and with love and forgiveness, she kissed his cheek.